The overall box office still has a case of the doldrums but a couple of new specialty movies this weekend had robust openings. Summit scored with its rollout of The Perks Of Being A Wallflower, averaging a stellar $61K. That’s the fourth best per-theater average of the year. Perks brought out young females in droves, with women making up 70% of audiences and 60% were under 25. Summit also boasted that Perks was also the company’s highest per-screen debut for any Summit title. Samuel Goldwyn Films’ doc Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel also showed gusto in its debut, averaging a stylish $21,413. IFC Films bravely took on How To Survive A Plague, a doc exploring the AIDS crisis from the standpoint of activist group ACT-UP. It averaged a softish $7K. Sundance Selects will open Survive in VOD on September 28th.

Among holdovers, last week’s record-breaking debut The Master held solid in its second weekend after a sizable expansion. The Weinstein Company added 783 theaters, grossing $5 million and a solid $6,345 average. Roadside Attractions took Arbitrage into 244 locations from 197 last weekend. The film averaged a solid $5,221. Noted a Roadside Attractions spokesperson: “The film held up very well and in particular went up 78% Friday to Saturday. ” IFC Films added 16 theaters for Liberal Arts in its second weekend. It grossed $40K in 20 theaters for a very soft $2K average.